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Black History in South Dakota
Black History in South Dakota
South Dakota's Black history runs deep — from early homesteaders and frontier pioneers to civil rights champions whose legacies still shape our community today. The NAACP Sioux Falls Branch is proud to share these stories of courage, resilience, and community.
Early Pioneers & Settlers
Early Pioneers & Settlers
Long before South Dakota achieved statehood, Black Americans were building lives, claiming land, and shaping communities across the territory. These are their stories.
The Sully County Black Homesteader Community
The Sully County Black Homesteader Community
In the 1880s, a wave of African American families made their way to Sully County, South Dakota, drawn by the promise of free land and a fresh start. At its height, the community — sometimes called the "Sully County Colored Colony" — numbered as many as 100 residents who collectively owned approximately 7,000 to 8,000 acres. These were not just farmers. They ran restaurants, bakeries, and livery services. In 1896, Benjamin Blair became the first Black person in South Dakota to sit on a school board, later serving as chairman. The McGruder family purchased 1,200 acres, raised sheep and cattle, and prioritized education — sending their children to high school in Pierre and on to Northern State Teacher's College in Aberdeen. As of 2019, McGruder descendants still lived on the original homesteaded land.
→ Learn more: NPS — Sully County Black Homesteader Community
Norvel Blair &
Norvel Blair &
Blair Colony
Blair Colony
The Sully County story began with one man's determination. Norvel Blair was born into slavery in Tennessee, but after the Civil War he sent his sons north to scout new land. What they found in South Dakota sparked one of the most remarkable stories of Black homesteading in American history. Seven Blair family members filed homestead claims, and in 1906 Blair and others formed the Northwestern Homestead Movement — actively recruiting African American settlers from across the Midwest to come build lives on the Northern Plains. The Blairs proved that freedom wasn't just something to survive; it was something to organize around, grow, and share with others.
→ Learn more: NPS — Norvel Blair · Wikipedia — Blair Colony
Sarah "Aunt Sally"
Sarah "Aunt Sally"
Campbell
Campbell
Sarah Campbell, known widely as 'Aunt Sally,' was one of the most colorful and resilient figures of the Black Hills frontier era. A pioneer in every sense, she made her mark in the Deadwood region during one of the most turbulent periods of South Dakota's early history. Her story is a testament to the presence and persistence of Black women on the Great Plains frontier.
→ Learn more: SDPB — Sarah 'Aunt Sally' Campbell
Nat Love aka
Nat Love aka
Deadwood Dick
Deadwood Dick
Nat Love was one of the most celebrated Black cowboys of the American West. Born into slavery in Tennessee in 1854, he headed west after the Civil War and became a skilled roper, shooter, and trail hand. In 1876, he won a rodeo competition in Deadwood, South Dakota, on the 4th of July — earning the nickname 'Deadwood Dick.' Love later wrote a memoir that stands as one of the few first-person accounts of the Black cowboy experience in the American West.
→ Learn more: Nat Love aka Deadwood Dick: Cowboy, Nature Lover, Man of Letters
Building Community in Sioux Falls
Building Community in Sioux Falls
Despite discrimination and isolation, Black South Dakotans in Sioux Falls built vibrant community institutions - churches, social clubs, and annual tradions that kept people connected across hundres of miles.
Harvey Bentley & the Get-To-Gether Picnics (1930–1962)
Harvey Bentley & the Get-To-Gether Picnics (1930–1962)
Never underestimate the power of a public park picnic. During the Great Depression — a time when the Ku Klux Klan had marched through downtown Sioux Falls just a decade earlier — Harvey Bentley and other Black community leaders organized what became one of the most important annual traditions in South Dakota's African American history.The 'Get-To-Gether' picnics began in Mitchell in 1930, rotating every four years between Sioux Falls, Mitchell, Huron, and Yankton. At the peak of their popularity they drew over 1,000 attendees — Black and white — to McKennan Park and Heritage Park in Sioux Falls, with participants traveling from Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa, and North Dakota.Each picnic featured morning worship, a community meal, speeches on national issues, and discussion of how to secure federal jobs and advance desegregation. During World War II, picnic booths sold war bonds, and the Black USO Center used the events to introduce African American soldiers stationed at the Army Air Force Technical School in Sioux Falls to the local community.Harvey Bentley — born in Salisbury, Missouri in 1897, a World War I veteran, and a longtime Sioux Falls resident — served as president of the South Dakota Colored Picnic Association for 25 years. The picnics continued until 1962, a quiet testament to a community's determination to stay connected on its own terms.
→ Learn more: Plains History — Harvey Bentley & the Get-To-Gether Picnics
Allen AME Church
Allen AME Church
Allen African Methodist Episcopal Church has long been a cornerstone of Sioux Falls' Black community — a place of worship, organizing, and belonging for generations of families.
Kenny Anderson Sr. First Black City Commissioner
Kenny Anderson Sr. First Black City Commissioner
If you have lived in the Sioux Falls area for any length of time, you have likely seen the name Kenny Anderson — on the sign of a park and a community center. That name honors Kenny Anderson Sr., the first African American to serve on the Sioux Falls City Commission. His son, Kenny Anderson Jr., remembers him simply: 'He really cared about his city.' The park and community center that bear his name stand as lasting recognition of his service and dedication.
→ Learn more: KELO — Hidden History: The Legacy of Kenny Anderson Sr.
The Civil Rights Era
The Civil Rights Era
South Dakota may not be the first state that comes to mind when people think of the Civil Rights Movement - but Black South Dakotans were doing the work, fighting discirmitnaiton, and winning legislative victories that mattered nationally.
Ted Blakey - Yankton's Civil Rights Champion
Ted Blakey - Yankton's Civil Rights Champion
Until the day Ted Blakey died in 2004, he kept a newspaper clipping from February 1838 — an advertisement offering his grandfather, an 11-year-old boy, for sale at a slave auction in Missouri. For Blakey, a Yankton businessman and tireless Civil Rights advocate, it was a reminder of how far his family had come.Born in Yankton in 1925, Blakey grew up to become a successful owner of a janitorial and pest control business. By 1960 he was recognized as South Dakota's Outstanding Negro Citizen — president of the school board, president of the PTA, and active in the Jaycees and Kiwanis. But his most consequential work came in the 1960s.The South Dakota NAACP documented that restaurants in Sioux Falls, Rapid City, Huron, and Mitchell refused to serve Black customers. Another study found that 90 percent of barbershops in Rapid City would not serve Black clients. Governor Archie Gubbrud recruited Blakey to help change that. Blakey traveled the state — speaking at Rotary clubs, Kiwanis meetings, church PTAs — building the relationships that made legislative change possible.In 1963, Blakey stood beside Governor Gubbrud as he signed South Dakota's Civil Rights Bill. Then Blakey turned his attention to the 24th Amendment — the federal amendment that would permanently abolish the poll tax and protect Black voters from economic disenfranchisement.For Blakey, a Yankton businessman and tireless Civil Rights advocate, it was reminder of how far his family ahd come.
United Soul & the Black Campus Movement
United Soul & the Black Campus Movement
The Civil Rights Movement was not only playing out in legislatures and courtrooms — it was happening on college campuses too. At Augustana College and Sioux Falls College, Black students organized under the banner of United Soul, advocating for Black representation, curriculum inclusion, and an end to discrimination in Sioux Falls. Their meetings drew both Black and white students to Augustana's Bergsaker Hall every Wednesday night, and they took part in Augustana's Rights of Man series — bringing a local, grounded dimension to national conversations about racial justice.
→ Learn more: Plains History — United Soul & the Black Campus Movement
Report on Rapid City: Negro Airmen in Northern Community
Report on Rapid City: Negro Airmen in Northern Community
(1963)
(1963)
In March 1963, the South Dakota Advisory Committee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights published a damning report on conditions in Rapid City.The report - titled 'Negro Airmen in a Northern Community' - examined discrimination faced by Black airmen stationed at Ellsworth Air Force Base and commented patterns of exclusion in housing, restaurants, and public services throughout the city.It remains a critical primary source of understanding what civil rights truggles lookedl ike in the Northern Plains.
→ Learn more: USCCR — Report on Rapid City (1963 PDF)
South Dakota & The 24th Amendment 1964
South Dakota & The 24th Amendment 1964
On January 23, 1964, the 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was officially ratified - banning the poll tax in federal elections and ensuring that poverty could never again be used as a weapon against Black voters.South Dakota was the 38th and final state needed to ratify the Amendment.That vote did not happen by accident. It was the result of years of organizing by the South Dakota NAACP, and of Ted Blakey's tireless advocacy before the state legislature.When South Dakota cast that decisive vote, it was South Dakota NAACP victory.
→ Learn more: Zinn Education Project — 24th Amendment Ratified
→ Learn more: AA Registry — Ted Blakey
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Sioux Falls (1961)
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Sioux Falls (1961)
In 1961, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited Sioux Falls.A rare interview recording from that visit captures King speaking to local audiences at a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement, just years before the March on Washington.This recording is a remarkable piece of local history.
→ Learn more: KELO — MLK Jr. in Sioux Falls, Interview from 1961
Notable Figures
Notable Figures
Leonard 'Bud' Williams
Leonard 'Bud' Williams
[Mitchell, SD]
Leonard 'Bud' Williams was born in Mitchell, South Dakota on May 6, 1918, and spent his life there until his death on March 6, 2006.
In 1993 he was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in the Legacy of Achievements category - a recognition of a lifetime of contribution to his community.His family has been a presence in Mitchell for as long as most residents can remember, known for a strong work ethic and deep community ties.
In 1993 he was inducted into the South Dakota Hall of Fame in the Legacy of Achievements category - a recognition of a lifetime of contribution to his community.His family has been a presence in Mitchell for as long as most residents can remember, known for a strong work ethic and deep community ties.
Oscar Micheaux
Oscar Micheaux
[Author & Filmmaker]
Oscar Micheaux is one of the most important and overlooked figures in American film history.Born in Illinois in 1884, Micheaux homesteaded in South Dakota before becoming a novelist and then a groundbreaking filmmaker - the first major Black feature film director in American cinema.His film gave Black audiences stories about Black life at a time when Hollywood ignored or caricatured them.His South Dakota years, spent farming near Gregory, gave him the material for his first novel and shaped his independent spirit.
Buffalo Soldiers
Buffalo Soldiers
The Buffalo Soldiers - African American military unites formed after the Civil War - played a significant role in the history of the Great Plains and the Dakotas.Named by the Native American tribes who encountered them, the served with distinction across the frontier, including in present-day South Dakota.Their legacy represents both the contributions of Black Americans to the nation's military history and the complex tensions of post-Civil War expansion.
Videos, Audio, & Community Recordings
Videos, Audio, & Community Recordings
The NAACP Soiux Falls Branch has gathered video and audio resources to help bring this history to life.
Use the links and embeds below to watch and listen.
Watch & Listen
Watch & Listen
Music & Community Voices
Music & Community Voices
"Teach us the truth so we can overcome."
"Teach us the truth so we can overcome."
— Nieema Thasing
— Nieema Thasing
The NAACP Sioux Falls Branch is proud to feature original music by Steven Guy, shared for educational and community purposes. Steven's work speaks to the ongoing legacy of the civil rights movement and the continued pursuit of justice and truth.To discuss use of Steven's music for NAACP events or programming, contact Steven Guy🎵 Steven Guy on Spotify
Black-Seminole-By-Steven-Guy.mp4Black Seminoles
Black Seminoles
The Black Seminoles are descendants of enslaved Africans who escaped to Florida, joined with the Seminole Nation, and for generations resisted removal and slavery. Steven Guy's music honors their story of survival, resistance, and cultural legacy."
We Shall Overcome
We Shall Overcome
By Steven Guy
History Lesson
History Lesson
By Steven Guy
Civil Rights Anthem
Civil Rights Anthem
By Steven Guy
Rise Up
Rise Up
By Steven Guy
Justice Song
Justice Song
By Steven Guy
ABC-Healthy-Me-Song-By-Steven-Guy.mp4ABC Healthy Me Song
ABC Healthy Me Song
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